2020 ITERO Fall 7

Message Title: Taking the Lord's Yoke (Father's Will) upon us and Learning from Him to Find Rest for Our Souls

I. "Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

if we find that the burden upon us is so heavy, this is the sign that we are taking the wrong yoke, not the Lord's yoke, for the Lord already promised that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. 

Isaiah 30:15 "For thus says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, / In returning and rest you will be saved' / In quietness and in trust will be you strength; /  But you were not willing, "

we need to pray over this frequently, "Lord, I like to return to you with my whole being, my spirit, my soul, my heart and my body. Lord, today, I want to experience You as my rest. " the issue of enjoying the Lord as our rest is that we will enjoy Him as our salvation. Also, many times, we are disturbed by many things, so we need to enjoy Christ as the quietness in our being. 

in Luke chapter 10 verses 38 through 42, there is the record of Mary and Martha. Martha was busying with serving, but Mary was sitting at the feet of the Lord, listening. we should have such an attitude of Mary. in every meeting we come, if we can sit at the Lord's feet and listen to Him, the Lord will honor us and He will infuse us with Himself. if we want to serve the Lord, we need to first listen to Him at His feet, to get revelation from Him, how we should serve. it is possible that in our serving, we are so busy and distracted with much serving, that we neglect our spirit. This will cause us to be very anxious and troubled about many things when we are serving. But, if we are like Mary, sitting at the Lord's feet quietly, we will have peace and quietness in our spirit, which will enable us to not be troubled and disturbed. In these verses, the Lord mentioned about "there is need of one thing" . what is this "one thing"? actually this "one thing" is just Christ Himself. He is the "one thing" in our spirit. don't be distracted from this "one thing", the Christ who is in our spirit. 

in Genesis chapter 1, in the record of God's creation in six days. God created man on the sixth day, and then God rested. the day of God's rest is man's first day. this indicates that before we touch anything in the service of God, we need to first enter into God's rest, we need to enjoy Him and be satisfied by Him. 

before we can do anything to serve the Lord, the Lord wants us to enjoy Him first. this is the NO 1 thing. everyday, we need to consecrate ourselves to enjoy the Lord. Then our service will be out of this enjoyment. 

to take the yoke of the Lord is to take the will of the Father, which is to be constrained by the will of the Father. the Lord lived such a life, caring for nothing but the will of His Father; He submitted Himself fully to the Father's will. Hence, He asked us to learn from Him. the Lord has given us His life of obedience, His life of submission. 

II. In Exodus 31:12-17, after a long record concerning the building up of God/s dwelling place, there is a repetition of the commandment to keep the Sabbath; according to Colossians 2:16-17, Christ is the reality of the Sabbath rest; He is our completion, rest, quietness, and full satisfaction

Exo 31:16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

Exo 31:17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

the only way for man to become God's refreshment is to enjoy God as our refreshment first. If we enjoy God as our refreshment, spontaneously we will express God, represent God with His dominion, and we will become God's refreshment. 

To God the seventh day was a day of rest and refreshment; however, to man, the day of rest and refreshment was the first day; man's first day was a day of enjoyment. so for us now, we begin the new week with the Lord's day, as the reality of rest and refreshment, so this prepares us for the coming new week. 

III. The Lord's yoke (the Father's will) is easy, and His burden (the work to carry out the Father's will) is light; we must always serve with a burden from the Lord

Deuteronomy 4:25 When you have brought forth children and grandchildren and have languished in the land, and you have spoiled yourselves by making an idol, the form of anything, and have done that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah your God so as to anger Him; 

"languish" means that we lose the freshness. if we serve according to obligation instead of serving with a burden, such service will cause us to lose the Lord's presence. the freshness of the Lord's presence should never leave us.